Thursday, 20 October 2011

Kazusampo friends! (Bhutanese for G'day).I'm just returned from an adventure in this tiny landlocked kingdom, situated at the eastern end of Himalayan range - surrounded on east/south/western sides by India and in north by Tibet. I went with a group of friends to walk a route called 'The Snowman Trek', which is regarded as the longest, hardest, highest commercially available trek in the world. Takes 28 days to complete, including crossing numerous passes over 4,000 & 5,000m in height. Unfortunately for me, it was TOO hard - I succumbed early to a combination of altitude sickness and chest infection that made continuing impossible, so I took the only possible 'escape route' option after only 2 weeks of walking. That was pretty sad - waving goodbye to 6 mates who continued the trek without me - but there was an upside....

... because there was a Royal Wedding going on when I eventually made it back to the capital city (Thimpu) and because there is only one international airport in the whole country and because you have to book flights in and out months ahead of time (normally) - it looked like I'd be killing quite a bit of time before I could get a flight out and home. As it turned out I was lucky, and managed to get a seat only after 4 days waiting... but those 4 days were really well spent.Because the wedding celebrations (which lasted over those 4 days) were going on in various locations around and in Thimpu, I got a closeup view of the Bhutanese people as they celebrated this much-longed for wedding of their adored king. Not only was he a most handsome chap, his new bride was more beautiful than any woman has a right to be: absolutely stunning. To top it all - the Bhutanese people have continued to dress in their national costume, which is comprised of absolutely gorgeous hand-woven textiles in glorious colours and designs. I was beside myself looking at the range of fabrics available for sale in local markets and handcraft shops (of which there are many).

So, as you can probably tell by now, much of my time was spent shopping - and I have come home seriously overloaded with kilos and kilos of glorious materials which will of course be put to good use in the Rapt! workroom. Watch this space!